(He writes down the phonetic transcriptions, and then pulls from his pocket
a couple of pieces of string, which he carefully folds inch by inch,following
the triplets of symbols written in the strange alphabet. Then he places the
finished strings side by side.)
You see, here is the difference.
Tortoise: They are very similar, indeed. Why, I do believe there is only one
difference between them: it's that one of them has a little knot on its
end!
Achilles: By Josh", you're right.
Tortoise: Aha! Now I understand why your master is suspicious.
Achilles: You do?
Tortoise: According to your rule of thumb, AT MOST ONE of such a pair can
have Buddha-nature, so you know right away that one of the koans
must be phony.
Achilles: But that doesn't tell which one is phony. I've worked, and so has
my master, at trying to produce these two strings by following the
String Manipulation Rules, but to no avail. Neither one ever turns up.
It's quite frustrating. Sometimes you begin to wonder ...
Tortoise: You mean, to wonder if either one has Buddha-nature? Perhaps
neither of them has Buddha-nature-and neither koan is genuine!
Achilles: I never carried my thoughts as far as that-but you're right-it's
possible, I guess. But I think you should not ask so many questions
about Buddha-nature. The Zen master Mumon always warned his
pupils of the danger of too many questions.
Tortoise: All right-no more questions. Instead, I have a sort of hankering
to make a string myself. It would be amusing to see if what I come up
with is well-formed or not.
Achilles: That could be interesting. Here's a piece of string. (He passes one
to the Tortoise.)
Tortoise: Now you realize that I don't have the slightest idea what to do.
We'll just have to take potluck with my awkward production, which will
follow no rules and will probably wind up being completely unde-
cipherable. (Grasps the loop between his feet and, with a few simple manipula-
tions, creates a complex string which he prriffers wordlessly to Achilles. At that
moment, Achilles' face lights up.)
Achilles: Jeepers creepers! I'll have to tryout your method myself. I have
never seen a string like this!
Tortoise: I hope it is well-formed.
Achilles: I see it's got a knot at one end.
Tortoise: Oh-just a moment! May I have it back? I want to do one thing to
it.
Achilles: Why, certainly. Here you are.
242
(Hands it back to the Tortoise, who ties another knot at the same end. Then
the Tortoise gives a sharp tug, and suddenly both knots disappear!)A Mu Offering